Trouble Comes in Threes
by epicpickleninja
Summary: After the events of the nogitsune, Beacon Hills is lulled into a life of ease. But is it a life of ease or a false sense of security? A surprise group project could either make or break Scott, Stiles, and Lydia's friendship.


Stiles and Scott may have covertly been shooting rubber bands at Mr. Phillip's desk when their literature teacher suddenly stood up. Scott fumbled his blue rubber band and lamely scratched his cheek as a cover-up when Mr. Phillip made eye contact with him. Stiles tsked.

"Alright class," Mr. Phillip said, "since it's after Spring Break I have a treat for you…a group project!" He smirked at the class' collective groan. "Welcome back to school, kids. Get into groups of three and I'll give you your assignments."

"Lydia," Stiles hissed. "Come hither. _Lydia_!"

"Dude, she's right next to you," Scott said.

"Yeah, but I can't have someone else try to take her," Stiles retorted.

Lydia raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow that clearly questioned both of their IQ levels. "What do I even see in you two?"

"Scott, do your puppy face. I can't think of anything clever."

Lydia rolled her eyes, but scooted her chair closer to them.

"Oh good, I thought we were going to have to be stuck with Greenburg," Scott sighed.

"Ugh, not again," Stiles groaned. "Greenburg is just…ugh. Danny is the only one patient enough for him."

"Wow, you guys make me feel so loved," Lydia deadpanned.

"Obviously you are the most preferable choice, Lyds," Stiles assured her. "Not many people can balance extreme genius and fabulous fashionista as well as you. Plus we have that baroness thing going on. I can continue if you want."

Scott frowned. "What?"

"Oh well, I'm quite skilled at both rambling and gushing over Lydia," Stiles said. "I've been told many times."

"Baroness?"

"Oh, _that. _Well, Lydia always contradicts me when I talk about our bro-ness because—"

"Still not a guy."

"See?"

"I still don't get it," Scott said.

"Am I supposed to be surprised?" Stiles asked.

"I'll help your dad find the unhealthy food you stashed," Scott said mildly.

Stiles face twisted in betrayal. "You wouldn't!"

"Test me."

"_Enabler._"

Scott and Stiles had a brief standoff. But Stiles then shrugged and continued with forced nonchalance. "_So_ since Lydia has issues with 'bro-ness' I figured 'baroness' is as close as we're going to get."

"You guys are so cute."

"We're adorable," Lydia agreed, filing her nails.

"If I can have your attention," Mr. Phillip said. "In the group you've chosen, the three of you need to pick a movie to analyze and present to the rest of the class by next week. The specifics of what I'm looking for are located on the rubric. Spend the rest of the class brainstorming."

The class' murmur was already transforming into a dull roar as soon as Mr. Phillip finished his spiel. The literature teacher sat behind his desk to do teacher-y things, leaving his students to their own devices.

Lydia opened her mouth.

"No, Notebook," Stiles interrupted.

The strawberry-blonde gaped. "Excuse me? The Notebook is a tragic love story involving not only the influence of class structure on society, but how love and emotion can—"

"That's nice," Scott said. "But the majority of the group vetoes The Notebook."

"I should've been in a different group," Lydia muttered. Her eyes narrowed at Stiles' smug smirk. "No Star Wars."

Stiles gave an offended squawk. "Uncalled for."

"Really?"

"Scott still hasn't seen it," Stiles protested, shooting his best friend a glare. Scott gave an apologetic shrug. "It would've been a good learning opportunity for him!"

Lydia hummed.

"I thought you loved having people learn," Stiles said.

"I can teach you advanced calculus," Lydia offered.

Scott and Stiles shared a grimace.

"How about the Avengers?" Scott suggested after Stiles went back to moping about Star Wars and Lydia continued to file her nails. "Everyone likes it."

Stiles scoffed. "Yeah which is why everyone and their mother is going to be analyzing it."

"Don't be dramatic," Scott said.

"_And their mother!_"

"Yeah, let's not do superhero movies. If I can't have romcoms, you guys can't have superhero movies," Lydia said.

"But you like superhero movies," Stiles said.

"Not as much as you," Lydia retorted. "It's the principle of the matter."

"The principle of the matter like when you fail to keep a promise to your best friend and take 388 minutes out of your life to accomplish one simple request?"

"How do you have the exact runtime of the original trilogy memorized?" Lydia asked.

"How do you?" Stiles countered.

Lydia ignored him.

"Dude, I'm going to watch Star Wars! I promise."

"Words are wind, Scotty," Stiles said. "We could watch it this weekend even…"

"Oh no," Lydia interjected, glaring at Stiles, "you're not manipulating Scott into voting yes to analyzing Star Wars. Besides, we can only do one movie. You'd have to choose one of your babies over the rest, which will be diffi—"

"A New Hope," Stiles said. "Done and done."

"Wow, that was immediate," Scott said. "I've seen you spend longer contemplating your pizza toppings."

"That's an important decision," Stiles said.

"Do you think he has all of his friends secretly ranked?" Scott asked Lydia.

"I wouldn't be surprised."

"Rude."

"I expect to know your movie choice by the end of class," Mr. Phillip announced. The class briefly paused.

Lydia turned to the boys. "Let's just pick a movie."

"Magic Mike?" Stiles suggested.

"You just want to see boobs," Lydia countered. "No."

"If I wanted to see boobs I would suggest—"

"Stop talking."

"Monty Python?" Scott said.

"Dude, no, I feel like it'll ruin that movie for me forever."

"Fight Club?" Scott tried again.

"That'll be hipster and pretentious," Stiles said. "Let's not."

Lydia snorted. "Still in denial about that?"

"What are you even talking about?"

"Dude, you got new glasses," Scott said.

"Keen as ever."

"They're hipster glasses," Lydia said.

"They are not," Stiles protested. "What does it matter if—_hypothetically_—they are, anyway? I only wear them at night."

"Don't pout," Lydia said. "You make a good hipster."

"I'm not a hipster."

"You're a little hipster," Scott said.

"I am not."

"You spent an hour critiquing Katy Perry," Scott said.

"The Dark Horse music video makes no sense!"

"Alright," Scott soothed, "hipster."

"Asshat."

"Hipster."

"Uncreative dollop head."

"Hipster."

"Really like that expanded vocabulary you got," Stiles said. "Your summer of reading really paid off."

Scott smiled sweetly. "Hipster."

Stiles scowled. "You displease me."

"So Dumb and Dumber, should we concentrate on the task at hand? Analyzing a movie, remember? How about Legally Blonde?"

"Why?" Scott protested.

"What my inarticulate friend meant was why when we have the smarter, prettier, really just better in every plausible way version right here?"

Lydia smiled at Stiles' ramblings. "That's sweet, but what's wrong with Legally Blonde?"

"Can we just not?" Scott asked.

"Ugh, fine," she grumbled.

"Oh my God," Stiles said. "I got it! Scott, don't look at me."

"What?"

Stiles dramatically covered his face with a textbook at Scott's inquisitive gaze.

"I really don't trust you right now," Scott said. "What are you even doing? And more specifically than something evil."

"You're going to read it on my face," Stiles waved his hand in his best friend's general direction. "Lydia, check your phone."

Lydia held her phone away from Scott and her eyes instantly brightened. Scott gulped. "Yes! We have to."

"We're in agreement then?" Stiles peeked above the top of his open textbook.

"Yep, we have the majority vote," Lydia said. "Sorry, Scott."

"What movie is it?" Scott asked, exasperatedly looking between his two friends.

"Teen Wolf."

**It's so close to season 4…why can't it just be June 23****rd****? And a thanks to ModernFemMerlinSpy for shedding proud tears and for realizing I never make typos. All my words have meaning. Obviously.**


End file.
